Why We Don’t Do Whiteboard Videos and You Shouldn’t Either

Having been in the business of explainer videos for over nine years, we’ve experienced the evolution of the industry and have seen many animation styles come and go.

One type of video you may have come across over the years is the whiteboard video. They became popular in 2007 when UPS did a series of commercials using this style.

But since then, they have been overused and are outdated in many respects. 

They are still useful for making a long talk more visually compelling or if you need a cheap way to produce a collection of support videos, but they will fall short if intended to function as a top of the funnel explainer video about who your company is and how it’s different.

A more effective approach is producing custom-made motion graphic videos. That’s the kind of work you’ll see in our portfolio, and it’s the kind we recommend. A whiteboard style video really isn’t going to be a timely or effective use of your marketing budget in 2020 and beyond.

An explainer video should be more dimensionalized and visually compelling versus something that looks like a flat presentation on a whiteboard. In other words, in order to truly captivate your audience, your story and process should really “come alive.”

Let’s take a closer look at why motion graphic animation is best for explainer videos and the different ways whiteboard videos fall short for this purpose.

Motion Graphic Animation is a Modern Approach to Video That Helps You Stand Out

Your message is the heart of your business, and it needs to shine through in a way that is compelling for your audience. It needs to grab attention and promote action. But if your video looks like many other videos that have come before, it won’t produce the results you desire.

By going through the process of creating an explainer video, you gain clarity on your message. You won’t find that clarity by simply creating a whiteboard video. The mix of this newfound clarity with affordable and engaging animation is why we believe our process is so effective.

With motion graphic animation, you have limitless options for how you can tell your story.

The animation is sophisticated and aligned with your messaging—but not too cartoony—because your brand is premium, and your video should represent that. It creates a sense of dimension that brings your story to life, in contrast with whiteboard videos that are flat (and frankly, ugly).

Motion graphic videos can also be designed for specific channels and your intended use. They bring together a perfect balance of cost and flexibility that doesn’t limit you to a physical product or environment, as is the case with live-action video. Furthermore, you don’t have the overhead of building sets, hiring actors, scouting locations, or spending thousands of dollars to reshoot if changes need to be made.

Here is an example of a motion graphic video.

Motion Graphic Animation Looks Professional and Builds Trust

People trust you so much more if you have a professional-looking video on your page. It says “I’m investing in my brand, we’re a legitimate company, and you can have confidence in buying from us.”

Whiteboard videos make you look cheap and give off the impression that you don’t care about your brand, or that you don’t have guidelines on how to position yourself. 

You need to look like the legit company you are. We’ve had clients tell us their reason for getting a good looking, up-to-date video is because “we’re a $5 million company and we need to look like a $20 million company.” It immediately positions you at a higher level in the market.

Motion Graphic Animation Gives You the Ability to Update Your Video in a Useful Way

All trends come and go and there are aspects of your video that may need to be refreshed. Animation allows the flexibility to update your message, positioning, color palette, logos, voiceovers, music, or anything else that might be part of a rebrand.

For the most part though, updates aren’t usually necessary since our process is so effective at highlighting your company’s message the first time around. We have clients from 7 years ago still crushing their conversion rates with the same video. They’ve tested their site with and without video and the results are clearly better with the video in place. 

To Recap:

An explainer video exists to help you, your team, and your prospects gain clarity about your message and the unique solutions you offer, and going through the explainer video production process is the key to achieving all this. 

Simply creating a low-budget whiteboard video won’t bring you this level of clarity and it also won’t help your company stand out. By having a video that uses motion graphic animation, you’ll look professional and state-of-the-art while getting your message across in a visually compelling way. 

Interested in learning more?

We would love to talk about your needs and show you some powerful motion graphic videos we’ve created that would suit your business.